The purpose of this examination was to understand how church leaders of Black Churches in the communities of Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau Counties manage strategies of their HIV/AIDS outreach programs and provide preventive education for those possibly infected by this disease. I used a qualitative multi-case study methodology to understand the strategies of managing successful HIV/AIDS outreach programs
because both case study and exploratory design stimulated a thorough analysis, which for this examination was the process that church leaders experienced in managing HIV/AIDS outreach programs and preventive education. Review needed because the focus was on church leaders who successfully managed HIV/AIDS outreach programs within their ministries. Another reason why this review was required was that the focus was on African Americans who are disproportionately affected. Foster et al. (2011) looked at HIV/AIDS ministries often accentuated although churches are reacting, programs are inept, and have insufficient resources. Programs also have a deficit of experienced counselors in the church.
The findings that emerged from the data analysis for this investigation related to the factors that influenced church leaders’ management of HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies. The first factor that influenced church leaders’ management of HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies was participation, learning from church leaders how they became involved. The second factor that influenced church leaders’ was church programs, understanding the types of workshops, the frequency of the workshops and how well attended. The third factor that influenced church leaders’ was responsibility,
how church leaders viewed their obligation to support people in their communities. The fourth factor that influenced church leaders’ was program components, uncovering church leaders’ response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau counties. The fifth and final factor that influenced church leaders’ was leadership styles, what kind of leadership needed to be in place to develop and manage HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies and what role the Black Church played in addressing HIV/AIDS in the African American community.
This final chapter presented in three parts. The first part includes an interpretation of the findings in relation to the literature review and the conceptual framework. The second part includes a discussion of the limitations of the study and recommendations for future research. The last part includes a discussion of implications for positive social change.
Interpretation of Findings
The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore what programs and education church leaders use to support those with HIV/AIDS.
Additionally, how church leaders manage HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies.
Exploration of the experiences of managing HIV/AIDS strategies by church leaders supplied actionable approaches upon which church leaders may use to create HIV/AIDS outreach programs in future ministries. Discovering tactics for developing and sustaining effective faith-based HIV/AIDS outreach programs involved analyzing earlier research for material on previous programs and following up with a qualitative study to
substantiate or expand the outcomes of the literature review. I utilized this methodology because it generated deeper perceptions on the important incentives with each church leader (Seidman, 2013). The focus of my literature examination was on empirical inquiries of religious congregations and their involvement with HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies. The literature on church-based HIV/AIDS outreach programs included church leaders’ involvement and responsibility with HIV/AIDS prevention programs. During the literature review, I found, church leaders were open to carrying out HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies in their places of worship as long as the
curriculums stayed in agreement with the church principle (Stewart, 2015). Church leaders were willing to work with community-based groups in applying program strategies. The Black Church has improved its commitment in tackling the HIV plague from a prevention, concerned, and religious outlook (Pivnick, 2015). The literature review was comprehensive concerning HIV/AIDS prevention, led to a gap in the literature concerning coordination of program initiatives, and qualified counselors in faith-based organizations. However, outreach program strategies I uncovered in the literature review were similar to those mentioned by the participants in the study. In table 18, I show similar church addressed HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies found in the literature review and those found in the study. In the following section, I will expand on the similarities between the two sources.
Table 18
Similarities of literature and study church addressing outreach program strategies
Literature church addressing strategies Study church addressing strategies
Primary Vehicle (Pastors)
The literature states pastors are the primary vehicle to leading congregants to accept the possibility of implementing HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies into their ministries (Powell, et al., 2016). The study mentions pastors are the catalyst to more education, receptiveness and compassion towards persons with HIV/AIDS (BK01, set precedence, February 22, 2016). The Black Church hold pastors in high regard and their leadership is crucial in moving HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies forward.
Addressing sexual health and HIV/AIDS in sermons would allow other ministries to address the topics more freely (Coleman, et al., 2012). The investigation found that speaking about HIV/AIDS ministry from the pulpit has become common practice (NA01, address from the pulpit, February 26, 2016). Sex positive messages addressed from the pulpit reduce the shame, increase awareness, and pave the way for future strategies.
Derose, Mendel, et al. (2011) mentions religious messages about HIV/AIDS connects the disease with sin and religiously based stigma towards homosexuality have created a hindrance to HIV/AIDS action by the faith community. The analysis reveals church leaders do not participate in HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies due to the stigma associated with the disease or because church leaders may not know how to respond (BK01, they don’t want to get caught up in that whole stigma, February 22, 2016). Church leaders say it is hard to answer why others are reluctant to participate, but most churches may be stuck in the old mindset of the nature of the disease and have not became aware or knowledgeable about the disease and how it impacts the lives of their constituents. (BK02, view as death sentence or taboo, February 24, 2016). Church leaders think those who are HIV positive are always from the gay and lesbian community.
However, that is not always true, they could be drug users who use the same needle, born with it or contracted from blood transfusion (not so much today). The stigma or mindset requires a shift because it is not just the gay/lesbian community it is everyone and their lifestyles (NA01, the biggest thing is still the stigma, February 26, 2016).
Stewart (2015) pointed out that collaborations and partnerships are critical to the development of a HIV/AIDS ministry. Collaborations and partnerships will provide educational materials, trainings, HIV testing kits, condoms and other crucial assets, as well as discussion on handling the details of development. Church leaders in this analysis described their experience with collaboration and partnership. For continuous awareness, they partner with corporations and partner with other community outreach to get them on board with assisting in enhancing management of HIV/AIDS outreach strategies (QU02,
partner, February 8, 2016). Church leaders disclose specific partnerships such as Department of Health, Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, and Watchful eye showing the criticality of collaboration for HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies (BK01, collaboration, February 22, 2016). Collaboration with the Health Department brought about awareness and the provision of services that the ministry skill set lacked.
Certified individuals who were qualified to perform those services were utilized (BK02, collaboration, February 24, 2016). Collaborations with groups, agencies, and/or programs are of great interest to HIV/AIDS ministries because specific services provided enhance the development of the program. Disease state awareness and chronic illness combined with a spiritual component if applicable is the focus (QU01, collaboration, January 22, 2016).
The African American church is a vital community affiliate in the development of HIV/AIDS prevention strategies (Stewart, 2015). Coleman and associates (2012) also identifies the church and other faith-based organizations (FBOs) as vital resources for HIV prevention and education efforts in African American communities. The analysis reveals historically the Black Church educated and taught core values (BK01, take the forefront, February 22, 2016). Church leaders today have seem to have gotten away from being the source in the community that people are seeking to drive HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies (BK02, take the forefront, February 24, 2016).
The literature reveals that sexual health is one component of total health and well-being and discussions should happen within the congregations of faith-based
organizations (Powell et al., 2016). Church leaders will minister and provide care to the dying, however, but neglect to encourage disease prevention. The exploration talks about holistic ministries focusing on the whole and total man. Tackling one aspect of the problem without focusing on all aspects of the issue is impossible. If we are going to focus on the physical, then we need to also, focus on the mental, emotional and spiritual qualities of an individual dealing with HIV/AIDS (BK01, total man, February 22, 2016).
Significant barriers that hinder development of HIV/AIDS outreach strategies are lack of training, awareness, knowledge, support and inexperience in discussing
HIV/AIDS related topics (Stewart, 2015). The analysis discloses that the lack of
knowledge may form a discriminatory attitude towards the congregation and toward the people who are involved with the HIV/AIDS ministry. In order to maintain the spiritual content of the church increasing the knowledge and decreasing discrimination may be one way to bridge the gap (QU01, lack of knowledge, January 22, 2016; BK02, lack of awareness, February 24, 2016). Church leaders feel that they do not receive the support that is required to implement HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies. The lack of support becomes discouraging but giving up is not an option (NA01, lack of support, February 26, 2016; NA02, not participating, April 3, 2016).
Limitations of the Study
Limitations of this study included a small sample size limited to Queens,
Brooklyn, and Nassau counties in New York City. During execution of this examination, collected data from two church leaders per county, 25 years of age or older, male or
female, and managed strategies in an active HIV/AIDS outreach program ministry.
Although, interview research is susceptible to bias (Lomagino, 2015) the church leaders did not try to prove the programs’ success. Those managing HIV/AIDS outreach
strategies shared honestly the pros and cons of their ministries. The church leaders pointed out improvement possibilities and welcomed collaboration with community members. They also addressed possible ways to improve how they manage their
HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies. The analysis revealed community members and program participants invested very little into the HIV/AIDS ministries resulting in minimal bias. I made every effort to conduct interviews that will allow minimal bias.
The second limitation was the time it took to conduct interviews, transcribe interviews and analyze the results. I included time for transcriptions and analysis of the detailed data. The interviewee was comfortable and I appeared interested in answers. I avoided yes/no and leading questions, I used appropriate body language, and kept all personal opinions safeguarded.
A final limitation is that when conducting in-depth interviews, there is an inability to create overviews about the results because of the selection of small samples and
utilization of random sampling methods. Data saturation became apparent when the stories, themes, issues, and topics surfaced were the same accomplishing an adequate sample size of six interviews.
Recommendations Recommendation for Practice
Research regarding HIV/AID outreach programs in relation to managing strategies is still deficient. The first recommendation for practice is to examine the structure of an active African American HIV/AIDS outreach ministry defining current processes, identifying improvement opportunities, implement improvements, sustain, control and roll-out to other church leaders that need assistance in managing their HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies. In Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau counties, there are 43 active faith-based HIV/AIDS ministries that will benefit from understanding the health, heartbeat, and pulse of their ministries by assessing the current structure. The assessment will help the faith-based organization single out possible chances for
improvement at a high level and provide understanding of the HIV/AIDS outreach
program strategies before change happens. After a complete investigation has taken place guarantee buy-in from church leaders (Pastors, minister, deacons, ministry leads). The most critical component of an assessment is and will be the people. Once HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies have become a priority in faith-based organizations, once bettered, will significantly improve the Black Church HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies.
The final recommendation for practice is to synchronize programs and increase resources required to manage HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies in faith-based organizations. Faith-based organizations should follow the practice ‘each one, teach one’,
an African proverb originated in the United States during slavery. Faith-based
organizations need to learn how to learn from each other, no program will be a perfect fit because localities will be different, the audience will be different and church curriculum will be different. However, collaborating with each other, and sharing individual
successes will ignite conversation and a much-needed plan for progression, structured framework and strategies for HIV/AIDS outreach programs within the Black Church and community. Creating a sense of oneness, standardization, and streamlining may remove the difficulty of obtaining resources required. Resources such as, external agency
contacts, HIV/AIDS supplies (literature, testing kits, gloves, funding, etc.) for faith-based perspective, and a leadership team that will coach and lead those managing HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies within faith-based organizations.
Recommendation for Further Research
Additional research focusing on how HIV/AIDS outreach strategies will help families affected by HIV/AIDS, individuals with HIV/AIDS, and/or parishioners within the congregation who may be infected could create knowledge regarding mechanisms for using outreach strategies for additional support to those who choose to expose their status or association with someone who is suffering from HIV/AIDS. Conducting additional quantitative studies could help in creating a precise exploration into strategies that work for active HIV/AIDS outreach ministries. Future studies could expand the knowledge Pastors and church leaders have to share about the success of their HIV/AIDS outreach strategies.
For future research, the use of open-ended questions may allow participants to expand on their thoughts and provide details that are used for quantitative analysis.
In conclusion, the recommendations for further research are to utilize open-ended questionnaires in quantitative research to gain experiences and details on the strategies of HIV/AIDS outreach ministries. In addition, researching ways Pastors can better broadcast information on HIV/AIDS could prove useful by creating alliances. The ability to look at more than one HIV/AIDS ministry could also help in discovering similarities to increase the number of HIV/AIDS outreach ministries in faith-based organizations in other cities and states.
Implications Significance to Social Change
By conducting this investigation, I was helpful in recognizing strategies that may help in successful HIV/AIDS faith-based outreach programs by empowering the
development of HIV/AIDS ministry opportunities for church leaders. Stewart (2015) explained that African Americans are more likely to attend a church, pray regularly, and report themselves as very religious, in comparison with other racial and ethnic groups.
The church plays a prominent role in social and political scopes of African American lives since its beginning. People seek safety in the church and trust in its’ leadership and because of the positive impact it displays, church leaders have the venue to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment within the Black community.
Positive social change occurs when church leaders and congregations address the
HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies within Black communities decreasing stigma and confusion and increase the engagement of Black communities in HIV/AIDs prevention and treatment services. The impact of positive social change on church leaders includes additional opportunities to address the HIV continuum from prevention, to testing, to care of AIDS-infected congregants (Stewart, 2015). Church leaders’ buy-in is the substance for most HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies and therefore has the same impact on society as managers in secular organizations.
Significance to Theory
The normative decision leadership theory tells leaders how they ought to act. This theory built on ethical ideologies or norms provide guidelines for endorsing ethical leader behavior (Minor, 2015). Normative decision leadership theory calls for managers to select a leadership style according to the amount of participation in decision making appropriate for the situation. Leaders use variations of authoritative, consultative, group-based, and delegative styles. These styles lead to different decision-making processes for solving both individual and group problems. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory multi-case study is to explore the HIV/AIDS outreach strategies of the Black Church in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau counties that will show how the church leaders manage established and successful programs.
Normative decision leadership theory and the church constructed on moral principles. This management theory contributes to developing pastors and church leaders by their use of various leadership styles such as authoritative, democratic, consultative,
delegative, and group based. Church leaders display various leadership styles that results in different decision-making processes when managing HIV/AIDS outreach program strategies. Pastors and/or church leaders make choices, formulate visions, set objectives, lay routes to reach the objective, and make all attempts with congregation and others who follow in accomplishing it.
Significance to Practice
Faith-based organization activities play a vital role in the community, and faith-based organizations can learn from each other’s successes in developing and managing HIV/AIDS outreach strategies (Abara et al., 2015). Faith-based organizations are able to establish new associations and alliances with many HIV/AIDS agencies and churches with comparable HIV/AIDS prevention goals (Coleman et al., 2012). Faith-based organizations that create new associations and alliances within the congregation and community increase related knowledge, attitudes, and changes in HIV/AIDS-related shame.
The churches’ role in HIV/AIDS prevention intervention can begin to open conversations about HIV/AIDS, willingness to get tested for HIV, increase general knowledge about HIV/AIDS, and dismiss the fabrications about its transmission (Coleman et al., 2012). Highlighting the church HIV/AIDS program strategies that will work in HIV/AIDS prevention intervention will help to demonstrate the success of the church as a go-between in addressing dynamics in HIV/AIDS prevention like HIV/AIDS-related humiliation and normative feelings and understanding about HIV testing and safe
sex. The immersion of the church in overseeing HIV/AIDS strategies will assist in alleviating HIV/AIDS shame. The church leaders are able to grant the freedom to hold sermons from the pulpit that will focus on the impact of HIV/AIDS within the African-American community (Nunn et al., 2012). The study affects many church leaders in the Black Church because the findings contribute to their understanding of how to manage HIV/AIDS outreach strategies to develop maintainable and longstanding approaches that address elements that may otherwise hinder HIV/AIDS reduction efforts in African
sex. The immersion of the church in overseeing HIV/AIDS strategies will assist in alleviating HIV/AIDS shame. The church leaders are able to grant the freedom to hold sermons from the pulpit that will focus on the impact of HIV/AIDS within the African-American community (Nunn et al., 2012). The study affects many church leaders in the Black Church because the findings contribute to their understanding of how to manage HIV/AIDS outreach strategies to develop maintainable and longstanding approaches that address elements that may otherwise hinder HIV/AIDS reduction efforts in African